Parish of West Grinstead
Diocese of Chichester
St. George's, West Grinstead
St. Michael and All Angels, Partridge Green
St George's Church Choir
St George’s Church Choir has been leading worship and praise in the Parish Church at West Grinstead since the 18th Century. Before 1890 it included the Parish Band.
A four-part choir at St George's sings at all the principal services and is active in the community celebrations such as weddings and festivals. There are major choral services at Advent, Christmas Eve and our patronal festivals, and a devotional recital on Good Friday.
The choir meets weekly on Fridays at 7.30pm except in August. It is affiliated to the Royal School of Church Music. Practices are held in the church where the music for the following Sunday is rehearsed. This includes, hymns, psalms, service settings and anthems. Currently there are eighteen members and we aim to maintain the four part tradition as far as possible. We are a very friendly group and new members (including children aged 8 or over) are always welcome.
Christmas and Holy Week are busy times with special music to be learnt for the Christmas Eve Carol Service. Traditionally we sing an oratorio or meditation on Good Friday. In recent years we have sung works by Fauré, Maunder, Stainer and Handel. St George’s choir has good links with several neighbouring parish choirs including Shipley, Nuthurst and Horsham. We have quite an extensive choir library with a particularly good Victorian section which includes a number of classic anthems. Our repertoire also contains some secular songs which we can entertain with on special parish occasions. The choir will sing at weddings and funerals if required but fewer members may be available on weekdays than on Saturdays. A fee is charged. Contact Ian Balls on 07775 550616
St Michael's Church Choir
The St Michael’s choir meets on Fridays from 6.30pm to 7.30pm in preparation for leading the service on Sundays and other special occasions.
We sing traditional church music as well as new worship songs.
New members are always welcome so come along and join us or contact David Dunk on 01903 815386
St George's Bell Ringers
The six bells at St George’s Church were originally made by Mears & Stainbank of the renowned Whitechapel Foundry in London. They were recast and re-hung in 1910 by Gillett & Johnstone of Croydon using the same original bells. Tuned in the key of G Sharp the bells are very bright and tuneful, the lightest being about 2cwt. and the largest 8 cwt. and having long ropes they are reputed to be ‘difficult to ring‘! Apart from routine maintenance they are still original bells which says much for the founders’ skill. Bell ringing itself takes a great deal of practice to become really proficient.
Bell ringing practice takes place at St George’s church on Thursday evenings 8pm until 9pm when we practise for forthcoming services. We try to ring whenever required at weddings, funerals, etc. and are a very dedicated team. However, some of us are getting older, having started fifty or sixty years ago and so we always need and welcome new recruits in order to keep up this ancient art in this beautiful church. So do come and join us.
Contact Diane Verrall, Tower Correspondent on 07884 474 702 or dianeverrall@msn.com.
